Hello everyone! I've played Hard Light for a very long time now in this game, and I think it's about time I start talking about this said weapon. Currently, as it stands Hard Light is kind of interesting in its own right. But I've been noticing that this weapon needs something for both PvE, PvP and possibly PvEvP. Let's start with something that a lot of people hate nowadays: Math. This weapon's DMG output has 23 Crit and 14 Body. This weapon actually hits slightly harder towards the head than the other Adaptive Auto Rifles, which is somewhat unique all on its own; however, as I play with the other exotic weapons, and a bunch of legendaries, Hard Light isn't as strong as most of the other exotics, and is somewhat in line with the legendaries, if even slightly above them in certain areas. Even with +1 on Crit it (mostly) kills at the same ground level as its other legendary counterparts. So not much there sadly. As for its unique abilities: Volatile Light > [i]Rounds fired from this weapon have no damage falloff, overpenetrate targets, and deal double damage when ricocheting off hard surfaces.[/i] This ability can be a game-changer, but on very specific scenarios; such using the extra damage off of walls that are right behind your enemies, or using it very well in very narrow paths or small indoor rooms. A good fair amount of the other exotics out there have their unique abilites with them that are viable at all times regardless of their location, such as Vigilance Wing, The Crimson, or the MIDA Multi-Tool. Hard Light's major aspect of dealing extra damage is very setup heavy and, when lucky, can get hits from corners or even floors when done right; this results in using its unique abilities to be very risky, but the reward isn't high enough to compensate for it. I have two ways to make this perk very effective in its own right... Volatile Light > [i]Rounds fired from this weapon have no damage falloff, overpenetrate targets, and[/i] increases damage when ricocheting off multiple[i] hard surfaces.[/i] - Times the bullets can ricochet off a hard surface increased from 2 to 5. - Now increases its damage by 50% for every ricochet. --- Up to 250% additional damage, if the lines connect.) --- This was 100% additional damage after the 1st ricochet. As you can see, a few slight grammar tweaks is enough to make this perk very formidable, and can actually hold its own, while increasing the reward even further to get itself in-line with the amount of risks that you have to take. This also makes it a huge buff for the potency of this weapon in crowded areas, which there are actually quite a lot of in Destiny 2. As for its other ability: The Fundamentals > [i]Holding the Reload button/key changes this weapon's damage type, cycling between Solar, Arc, and Void.[/i] This is very unique in a way where this weapon is only very valuable, when the cards are being played right, in non-PvP activities, and even then it's not that great, compared to the other weapons out there. Don't give me the wrong idea, this is a good weapon, but once you compare it to the other weapons around, you'd most likely be finding a different weapon going forward in the end that fits your taste. But rest assured, I'll still tell you what the problems with this perk really are, but lets show what I had in mind with this perk; in fact it gets changed so largely, that it gets a new name: The Elementalist > [i]Holding the Reload button to change this weapon's damage type, cycling from Void to Solar to Arc, and back to Void. Hold the Reload button for longer to cycle backwards. Matching this weapon's damage type with either a combatant's energy shield or a Guardian's element type to deal more damage.[/i] - Fix a bug where while interacting with something/someone, while holding this weapon, would cause you to cycle between damage types. - Holding the reload button even longer now cycles in reverse. Ex. You'd go from Void to Arc as a result. - Damage dealt to the following from this weapon's damage types that match with them: --- 1.33x to combatant Energy Shields; will lose the bonus, when the shield is gone. --- 1.15x to Guardians with the same archtype. --- No Bonus damage from this weapon of a non-matching damage type. --- While ADS, enemy Guardians that are in your sights are now highlighted by color from their element. Arc would be Sky Blue, Void would be Bright Purple, and Solar would be Orange. It'll be White if they don't have an archtype or an Energy Shield. - A new Hit SFX whenever your weapon's damage type matches successfully. Starting simple, you have to reload this weapon to cycle from Void to Solar to Arc, and back to Void again, but the description says it in a different order. So that issue can be fixed with relative ease. Then comes its huge limitation, cycling between its damage types; say you want to get this weapon's type to be Solar, but your on Arc right now, so you have to 'reload' your weapon twice to get to the Solar type, resulting it to be very tedious work to get good results with this weapon. So, holding the button longer to cycle back helps this issue while increasing its flexability. Now comes the fun part. This weapon will deal more damage to the combatant's energy shields and guardians of the same element. This may sound mind-boggling, but not to worry, as it's a slight increase, enough so that you need 1 less bullet to kill your target guardians. This also makes it to become a shield-breaking monster in PvE, but will then deal regular damage once the shield breaks, thus keeping this weapon in check to keep it from being too powerful. It was confirmed that once you've Masterwork this weapon, you only get the following buff: -> +25 Stability Yup. Just one change in its stats. Doesn't sound intimidating at all, if you ask me. To masterwork it, you need to make a whopping 1000 kills in total, while its catalyst is active; which is a long grind and a half for most players out there. Why don't we try something to make those 1000 kills be worthwhile to grind to get the Masterworked variant, shall we? -> Removed +25 Stability. (Dropping it back to what had normally.) -> Added +30 Reload Speed (Increasing it from 68 to 98.) -> Added High-Impact Reserves - Rounds at the end of the magazine deal more damage. The perk alone is scary, when combining it with Hard Light, where as your weapon increases its damage as you start running through half its magazine, maxing out at the end of the magazine to deal 1.3x its normal damage, increasing its potency of the damage multiplier from ricocheting off hard surfaces up to a mind-blowing 523.25% additional damage, if all the cards have been lined up, which is very improbable, since you'll mostly be getting roughly 233% extra damage and even that is very miniscule; This perk allows you to battle your targets more reliably if your weapon type doesn't match with their energy shield, or element type. The stability itself is fine as it is honestly, so it doesn't need that buff in particular, but I get why Bungie only buffed its stability; its damage fall-off is non-existent, allowing you to be able to battle against your targets at much farther ranges than you would, normally. The huge increase in reload speed is so you can make use of the new abilities from the "The Elementalist" perk much more reliably than you ever could have. So, these are my suggestions to make Hard Light actually look great in its own accord. Keep in mind that these changes may look fantastic on paper, but in practice, chances are that it'll likely be giving you different results instead. The high-risk/high-reward scenarios from this weapon are still there, but the reward is much higher, while keeping its risks intact, allowing the reward itself to now be in line with its risks to fully balance themselves out. You can also make great use of this weapon normally as well now, with the new and improved [b]The Elementalist[/b] Perk. This results in a weapon that gets barely used to now be with the other exotics out there, like the Cerberus+1. *[i]If you guys are wondering why am I not saying to remove the screen shake? Well, to be fair, has the screen shake been removed even once, since the launch of Destiny 1? I know a lot of people want the screen shake to be removed for a long time now, but has Bungie even move a muscle in regards to that, since then? If they did, they'd be talking about it a while back, as far back as the Warmind. Which in turn is why I'm not talk about the screen shake in general to begin with. As this topic is more towards, "Move on with the obvious fix cause it's not going to happen, and instead, improve on its own unique abilities to further heights," if anything.[/i] Hard Light is not the only exotic that I'd like to see get changed in some aspect; in fact, the next weapon I'm looking at is the Jade Rabbit. This is all within my opinion/experience/viewpoint, so criticism and other suggestions are always welcome. Tell me what you guys think of these suggestions; don't worry, I'm a very outgoing guy. All Edits are in italics... * :5/1/2019: